Seattle

[jforrest]

We are looking at buying a property in West Queen Anne and was curious if anyone knew about the noise level from the trains in this area? I did a bit of internet searching and did see a lot of complaints from residents that the train can be very loud at night, enough to interrupt sleep. Has anyone had any experience with this? Any ideas on how far out we would need to look to eliminate train noise?

[2Ralph]

You need to take the topography of the land into consideration. Those trains and miscellaneous trainyard noises in the middleof the night are loud. Its really the misc trainyard noises that are the problem. You will hear very very very loud bangs occasionally a couple times a week and sometimes a few times in one night. You might get some weeks with nothing at all. It sounds like two freight cars are colliding together at 30 mph and its happening a block away but its really like 8 blocks away. If you've ever heard a canon being fired its that type sound, one of such depth that it permeates everything and its not going to be cured by installing double pane windows. I live in Magnolia (the other side of the tracks from West Queen Anne) Fortunately I live on 28th Avenue. As the hill rises from the trainyard the apex of the hill is about half a block east of 28th Avenue; so I get a bit of a buffer from the noise because I'm not on the hill facing the trainyard. With that said when the loud banging occurs I hear it and it abruptly wakes me up with the windows (single pane) shut. If I lived just a block east it would scare the living daylights out of me.  There is a train that rolls through at around 4am and it blows its horn; I hear that but its more background noise because of my location. If you have some type of white noise generator I supposed that could help but it realy depends on how far you are from the tracks, the topography of the land and how light/heavy of a sleeper you are. I too am looking to buy but West Queen Anne and East Magnolia are out of the question for me. Trust me, the noise is worse than you expect.

[DWBowers]

I lived on West QA for 10 years.  The train noise can be very loud there.  It's especially noticeable in summer when you have the windows open.   The train yard is very active and you will hear the whisles and loud bangs of the trains when they come together.  

[DWBowers]

I also lived closer to the train yard in an apartment on east Magnolia.  The train noise was bad but the fine black soot dust was also bad!

[huruta]

We rent on west Queen Anne now (near 11th/12th directly west of the midsection of the Interbay golf course). We've lived there 2.5 years and definitely hear the trains, particularly at night when the link up they make a big banging sound. This is most noticeable in summer when our windows are open. Initially we both would wake up but we've definitely gotten used to it and now I don't notice it at night so much. I don't think it would stop us from buying in the area. Like the airplane noise (QA is on the flight path for south landing flights at SeaTac) we've gotten used to it. It is a little more annoying that the planes but doable. Of course the further east you get the less the noise.

[PioneerStock]

I am a moderate sleeper and live on W Mercer Place.

I do hear the trains, and occasionally, the loudest sound is when cars are linking up or abruptly stopping. It rises to the level of "what was that?" the first time or two, then - unless you are tending toward the frail or neurotic - not a big deal.

I've never had a train wake me up. I've had thunder wake me up. Occasionally, sirens. Never a train.

Of course, I'm in west LOWER Queen Anne, not by the big yard that's in Interbay (smack in between W QA and Magnolia).

I won't say it's louder or quieter than you expect. I don't know what you expect!

[jforrest]

Thanks everyone for all of the feedback. It sounds like the noise is definitely a factor here, but we will only really be able to gauge the effects by experiencing it for ourselves. Maybe we'll get lucky and here some trains banging around the next time we're looking in the area and then decide from there.

[oddman]

I guess checking sales prices and DOM  for the area would give you an idea how it may impact values  and if the current asking reflects that.

As to the noise,  well how loud it is depends on where you have lived,  if you are a city kid then it wont matter nearly as much.

And you get used to it.  So if you find a police siren too much then.....